Louis Sealey
Published December 25, 2025 5:50pm
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Former England bowler Steven Finn (Picture: Getty)
England’s three-time Ashes winner Steven Finn has hailed Jacques Kallis as the ‘greatest cricketer of all time’ ahead of India legend Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar’s tally of 15,921 Test runs is yet to be beaten, although current England star Joe Root continues to eat into that record.
In the words of ESPNcricinfo, Tendulkar was ‘the most complete batter of his time, the most prolific run-maker of all time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon the game has ever known.’
Tendulkar scored a remarkable 51 centuries in Test cricket, with a further 49 in one-day internationals taking his overall hundred tally to exact 100.
Kallis made 62 centuries in international cricket but, unlike Tendulkar, was an incredible bowler as one of the best all-rounders ever to play the game.
The South African great took just shy of 300 wickets in Tests and a further 285 scalps in white-ball cricket. Kallis is also one of the best close fielders in history, taking 200-plus catches in Tests alone.
Former England quick Finn played against Kallis during a 2012 Test series in which South Africa emerged triumphant to rise to No. 1 in the ICC world rankings.
South Africa legend Jacques Kallis (Picture: Getty)
Despite coming towards the end of a brilliant international career that started in 1995, Kallis was the fourth-leading runscorer in the series after scoring 182 not out in the opening Test and chipped in with some key wickets.
Finn did enjoy some success against the South African, however, dismissing him twice in the same Lord’s Test during that series.
In his new book, The Ashes Files: My Pride and Pain in Cricket’s Most Intense Series, Finn named Kallis as the ‘greatest cricket of all time’ in a somewhat throwaway comment when looking back to the 2012 series.
Asked to elaborate in an exclusive interview with Metro, Finn said: ‘Well, I think firstly it’s Kallis’ longevity as a cricket. To play that makes games and do that well as an all-rounder has to be respected.
Jacques Kallis, the numbers
TESTS
Matches: 166
Runs: 13,289Average: 55.37Hundreds: 45Fifties: 58Highest score: 224
Wickets: 292Average: 32.65Economy rate: 2.82Best figures: 9/92
ODIs
Matches: 328
Runs: 11,558Average: 44.36Hundreds: 17Fifties: 87Highest score: 139
Wickets: 273Average: 31.79Economy rate: 4.84Best figures: 5/30
‘I think when you look at it and the sheer numbers he produced, he has almost the weight of runs and a better average than Sachin Tendulkar with the bar, and the bowling average of Zaheer Khan with the ball.
‘And then he caught absolutely everything at second slip with those massive pack of bucket hands.
‘So, yeah, you have to look at him as the complete package. It’s very hard to look beyond him given the affect he could have with bat and ball.
‘I think you’ll be hard pressed to find another player who has matches those numbers as consistently over the course of an entire career. That would be my reasoning for making that call.’
Finn dismissed Kallis twice in a Test match in 2012 (Picture: Getty)
Another former England cricketer, Michael Vaughan, rates Kallis as the second-best in history behind Australia legend Shane Warne.
Vaughan told BBC Sport: ‘Jacques Kallis batted at three and four throughout his career in all forms of the game and averaged 50. He stood at second slip and bowled 85mph.
‘The best cricketer I’ve seen is Shane Warne – he’d be number one pick in my all-time world XI – but Jacques Kallis would be a close second.’
One of Australia’s greatest players, Ricky Ponting, is adamant Kallis is the ‘best cricketer to ever play the game’ and the ‘most underrated’.
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‘Jacques Kallis is the best cricketer who has ever played. I don’t care I don’t care about everybody else,’ Ponting said on The Howie Games podcast.
‘Jacques is the full stop for me. Thirteen thousand runs – 44 or 45 Test centuries and 300 wickets. He had an amazing career.
‘You can take 300 Test wickets, and you can score 45 Test centuries but to do both feats at the same time is amazing. Jacques did both.
‘I think he’s the best and the most underrated cricketer ever.’
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